Page 78

CHAPTER

TWENTY-TWO

Jingles

“Shut the fuck up, we’ve got shit to discuss!” Brick bellows, effectively quieting all the brothers crowded around the room. Over the past week, every chapter along the East Coast has come with a truck full of toys, clothes, and even food, which had the three ol’ ladies, the club girls, and the prospects, putting together boxes for a holiday breakfast as well as a dinner for each family that was coming in to shop. Not only that, but most of the stores donated items as well, so the toy run I initially put together has taken on a life of its own at this point.

“Jingles, tell us where we’re at with the toy run,” he demands, pointing at me.

“The run itself has exceeded any and all expectations I had considering this was the first one we’ve done as a club. Our Bastards brothers and their ol’ ladies outdid themselves, as did the storekeepers, Pres. The store is full to bursting, and because money was also donated, your woman divided it evenly and had Rainman write checks for each of the families to use however they saw fit.”

“The turkeys are on their way for their Christmas dinners as well,” Hawg adds, looking at his laptop. “Just got shipping confirmation.”

“We did remember to order food for our Christmas dinner here, right?” Banshee asks, snickering. “Hell, I barely remembered to shop for my ol’ lady because of everything we were trying to accomplish. I think if we do this next year, we need to start sooner.”

I nod because I totally agree with him. We’ve all been going ninety to nothing to make sure everything’s ready to go. “Maybe we start at Halloween? Then really ramp it up right before Thanksgiving?” I question, looking at my own notes.

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Brick says. “Now, as far as our guests in the basement. I’m ready to wrap that situation up. Rael, Grim, are you guys good to go?”

Rael’s Reaper peers at Brick and nods, causing me to hide a shudder because the motherfucker creeps me the fuck out. “Once we’re done slaying, we can go sleighing!” he exclaims, causing the room to burst out in raucous laughter.

“Always gotta be a smartass,” Grim grumbles.

“It’s why you love me. Besides, I bet Ryleigh that I could build a better snowman than she and Nylah could.”

“You’re going against your ol’ lady and mine?” Brick questions. “Are you crazy?”

“You really gonna ask him that?” Grim asks, snickering.

“Okay, then I vote we go down and take care of Alvin and Bert once and for all, then help the ol’ ladies with the store. When is this snowman competition?” Brick inquires.

“I think we need to do it tomorrow. That’s when the foster families are shopping so we won’t really be needed. That way, we can go play in the snow.”

“I swear to Lucifer, Rael, that one of these days, I’m going to let you transfer to Roanoke since you like the fucking snow so much,” Grim mutters.

“You’d miss me too much. Besides, Nylah likes her job, Brother,” Rael retorts.

Brick, tired of their antics, slams the gavel down and says, “Church dismissed.”

“I’ll never get tired of watching that happen,” Brick murmurs as we watch Rael and Grim reap the souls of Alvin and Bert. Not, of course, before we had a little more fun, but in reality, I was tired of dealing with them long ago. My ol’ lady was settling in quite nicely, we were in a good place, and I just wanted to move forward.

“It definitely makes cleanup easy,” Phantom says, smirking. “The ground opens up and poof, they’re all gone. No fuss, no muss, no bother.”

“Y’all are assholes,” Brick states. “Let’s go see how it’s going down at the store. Kracken, did Moira go with them?”

Kracken’s face falls and he shakes his head. “No, Pres. She’s still not talking to anyone either, even Belle. Hell, the other day, when Belle sat down and was talking to her, she got up and walked away.” Looking at me he continues. “Brother, she made your ol’ lady cry, and while I understand she’s gone through a lot of shit, that doesn’t sit right with me at all.”

Me either. Belle never said a word to me about it when it happened, likely because she knows I’m not happy with her best friend right now. She throws a pall whenever she’s around everyone, and this time of year, seeing Belle’s infectious joy, and how the other two ol’ ladies are invested in making sure everyone has a good Christmas, it’s unacceptable as far as I’m concerned.

“Maybe she needs to come back to Cleveland,” Sleeper says. “Because I’m not sure what else can be done for her here and I won’t have her raining on Belle’s parade. She might not have endured everything that Moira did, but she was still abused and beaten, and outside of every once in a while seeing a sad look on her face, she’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her.”

“Let’s head to the store and see what we can do to help,” Brick states. “I’ll think about the Moira situation some more and figure something out.”

I’m sitting on the bed with my back against the headboard while I watch my ol’ lady wrap Christmas presents. Apparently, they’re all for me, not that I have the first clue what they are because each one is in a shipping box that she repurposed from all the shit she, Ryleigh, and Rory ordered.

“Today was so much fun, honey,” she says, glancing in my direction. “There was something very satisfying to me about helping the moms pick things out for their kids. I think each one of them cried as they were leaving. And I can’t believe that y’all collected enough of the newer game systems that each family was able to have one! Those aren’t cheap, yet y’all also made sure that there were age-appropriate games for the moms to pick from as well. I’m so proud of what you set in motion.”

“It wasn’t just me, sweetheart. A lot of hands were involved to make this whole thing a success. Not just here locally, but nationwide, my brothers made it happen. Plus, you three ol’ ladies deserve your own praise for everything you thought of that we forgot.”

“Okay, so we have a mutual admiration society then,” she teases. “Do we put these downstairs under the club’s tree or what?”

“How do you want to exchange gifts?” I ask. “I’m good either way.”

“Maybe some of them stay up here for Christmas morning, just us?” she questions.

“I’d like that,” I reply.

“Did you see Rory’s cat, Sassy, when we came upstairs tonight?”

“No, I wasn’t paying attention,” I admit. I was too busy watching the sway of Belle’s hips to notice what anyone else was doing.

“She was up in the tree and sound asleep! I thought Rory was going to have a heart attack,” she says, giggling.

“You about ready for bed, babe?” I ask, more interested in another activity besides watching her wrap.

She smirks at me while nodding. After carefully moving everything off the bed, I watch as she crawls toward me. “Now, what did you have in mind, honey?” she asks, her voice husky with need.

“Let me show you.”